The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu has become part of the regular news in the recent past. Safety of the public has been given the utmost priority at all stages of the KKNPP construction, including from the selection of the site, designing the processes, and erection of the plant buildings and equipment. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, which has built the two Russian reactors at Kudankulam, has so far clocked a cumulative 350 years of safe reactor operation in the 20 reactors that are operating in India.

KKNPP has been built on the sea coast like any other electricity generating station including the coal-fired plants.

Since the sea water level rises due to wave run-up, storm surge, tide variation and tsunami, the plant has to be protected from these natural events. KKNPP is well protected from a possible rise in sea level by locating the entire plant site at a higher elevation. The safe grade elevation of KKNPP site has been kept at 7.5 metres above the MSL (mean sea level) and a shore protection bund has been constructed all along the shore to a height of + 8.0 metres to the MSL. All the buildings along with their respective equipment are located at higher elevations as shown in Figure 1 (at left). In addition to having a higher grade elevation, all the safety-related buildings are closed with double gasket leak tight doors.

KKNPP is located in Indian Seismic Zone II, which is the least seismic potential region of our country. However, for designing of the plant, detailed studies were conducted to conservatively estimate the extent of ground motion applicable to the specific site with reference to seismotectonic and geological conditions around it so that the nuclear plant was designed for a level earthquake which has a very low probability of being exceeded. The plant's seismic sensors safely shut down the reactor in case the seismicity exceeds the preset value. Thus, despite KKNPP being located in a very low seismic zone, it is adequately designed to withstand the seismic events.

The two reactors that have been built at Kudankulam are advanced models of the Russian VVER-1000 MW Pressurised Water Reactor which is a leading type of reactor worldwide. VVER is a Russian nomenclature for water-cooled and water-moderated reactors. Each reactor at Kudankulam will generate 1000 MW. It uses low-enriched uranium fuel in oxide matrix, housed in sealed zirconium-niobium alloy tubes. KKNPP VVER 1000 adopts the basic Russian design with enhanced safety features to make it in line with IAEA GEN III reactors. Further, certain additional safety features were incorporated like passive heat removal system and core catcher, taking it to GEN III+ category.

The following safety functions are performed in any operational state of the reactor:

Control of the Reactivity (control of fission chain reaction), removal of heat from the fuel core and confinement of radioactivity.

For the control of reactivity, control rods are provided, which will ensure the shutdown of the reactor, thereby terminating the chain reaction, whenever the action is called for. The control rods are designed to fall by gravity to shut down the reactor.

The salient safety features of KKNPP

- Passive heat removal system to provide cooling for the removal of decay heat using atmospheric air.

- Higher redundancy for safety system.

- Double containment.

- Additional shut down systems like quick boron and emergency boron injection systems to ensure absolute safety for shut down of the reactor, when needed.

- Core catcher to provide safety in the unlikely event of fuel melt-down

- Passive hydrogen re-combiners which do not need any power supply to absorb any hydrogen liberated inside the containment.

The above systems have been developed based on extensive R & D and simulated testing by the Russian design institutes. The functional performance of these systems have been established during the commissioning stage.

A large number of process systems are provided for the purpose of heat removal from the reactor fuel core. In addition, to remove the decay heat after the shut down, a series of safety systems are provided which are backed by the diesel electricity generator sets. The safety systems are provided in four trains, each train containing a set of safety systems, both active and passive systems. Each set of safety trains is provided with a dedicated diesel generator set of 6 MW. The passive heat removal system provides the core cooling in case of rare occasion of non availability all the diesel generators. This system uses the simple atmospheric air to take away the heat from the reactor through steam generators by using the natural principle of convection. One safety train is sufficient to completely ensure heat removal from the fuel core. However, three additional safety trains, i.e., additional 300% systems are provided making the KKNPP reactors among the safest reactors.

The confinement of radioactivity is achieved by the principle of defence in depth. This concept provides a set of barriers, one after the other, so as to contain radioactivity within the reactor building. This concept is illustrated in Figure 2 (at right).

The reactor building has double containment structure. The primary or inner containment is a pre-stressed concrete structure, with the thickness of 1.2 metres. This inner containment is provided with leak-tight inner steel liner. The outer containment known as secondary containment is a reinforced concrete structure with thickness of 0.6 metres. The multiple barriers, as shown in Figure-2, including the containment structure, ensure that no radioactivity reaches the public domain. The double containment structures also protect the plant from external hazards like hurricane, shock waves, air attacks, seismic impact, floods, etc.

In addition, there are two important systems which provide safety function, viz., hydrogen re-combiners and a core catcher. The hydrogen re-combiners are passive devices. Hydrogen, if generated during any accident conditions, is recombined in the passive hydrogen re-combiners to convert it to water. This prevents any hydrogen explosion within the containment as happened at Fukushima in Japan in March 2011. There are 154 hydrogen re-combiners at various locations within the containment.

The core catcher is a special feature of KKNPP. It is a huge vessel weighing 101 tonnes. In case of an extreme hypothetical case, wherein an event causes damage to the fuel core resulting in partial core damage, the core catcher will collect the molten core, cool it and maintain it in sub-critical state.

At Kudankulam, a fish protection facility is provided in the intake of sea water. This facility assists juvenile fish, which drift along with the flow of cooling sea water, from not getting trapped in the machinery. The fish are helped in getting back to the sea and the fish population is thus conserved.

The product water and domestic water requirement of KKNPP are fully met by a desalination plant at the KKNPP site, based on Mechanical Vapour Compression technology.

Thus it can be safely concluded that the reactors at KKNPP are the built with the state of the art technology, with the best safety features that will ensure safe operation of the reactors, without any impact to the environment and the public.

kudankulam Reactors are very very unsafe from many angles.For more scientific details see web site"DiaNuke.Org"

from:
prof.T.Shivaji Rao

Posted on: Jun 1, 2012 at 21:47 IST

It's not the question of whether nuclear energy is safe or not. It's the question of the power of the localpeople. If the locals doesn't want a nuclear power plant near their villages, do we have moral right to build one and keep operating it. Who has to decide what is the developed or underdeveloped country. I think individual and group of locals has the right to decide their future. The rest of the world has no right to interfere witht their freedom. I believe in the future our govt. listens to the local and abandon those projects which the locals don't like. We don't have any moral to teach them how modern human beings should live, let them live in their way thay want.

from:
R.Manivarmane

Posted on: Mar 20, 2012 at 19:13 IST

Excellent explanation given by Mr. Balaji.However, people are more vigilant and demand for their safety.Do you think they are not aware?Safety onlayout and the safety parameters were also taken care. However, the plant has to be monitored for status of their control to environment and sea life and to be published every month in all medias. It is our Government's responsiblibility. Now Amma has given a green signal for commissioning of the plant and people of Tamil Nadu are very much relieved so they should get maximum share on the electricity. I think Jayalalitha must have demanded for it and it is good for the public. Stop all the protestors and they were only for political gain. When some talks about environment disaster or show example of Japan,no political party can take a daring step to thrash out protestors.Since Sankaran Koil election is over, Jaya took the long pending decision and we should welcome her for her daring instructions. Hats off to our Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

from:
mohan

Posted on: Mar 19, 2012 at 17:06 IST

Nuclear waste is at any day hazardous to every living organism on earth.It may provide an immediate relief to the acute power shortages across India,but,in the long run the accumulated nuclear waste may pose serious threats to the oceanic biodiversity of the earth,since,the nuclear wastes are now being dumped in the sea.In my opinion,nuclear energy should not be used unless a dire need arises and the sustainable ecofriendly sources of generating power should be encouraged.i think,hopefully, power generation through nuclear fission may be possible on a large scale in the very near future....

from:
S.Sanjana

Posted on: Mar 19, 2012 at 01:17 IST

Just like all highly energy intensive technologies, nuclear power programmes guzzle up all the electricity they produce from year to year and thus the society gets no electricity. This fundamental fact will reveal itself to anyone who does his homework on such technologies.Thus the unit cost of nuclear electricity is infinity! Why then we should sacrifice not only our health but of future generations as well? You can be rest assured that the nuclear power programme planned for India or China will meet this fate. Further none of these state of the art recator systems can ever be tested full scale. Thus it is a crime against all life for all time. Nuclear power, No thanks. If one blindly goes on building reactors and nuclear fuel cycles year after year, all life will be wiped out because even during normal operations the cancer deaths every year will go on increasing as the reactors go on increasing because we want electricity but wont get it! Stop following the nuke mirage. Use muscles!

from:
Ramaswami Kumar

Posted on: Mar 16, 2012 at 21:57 IST

Every one is concerned about safety aspects of Nuclear Plant here. None of us mentioned a most vulnerable threat. Terrorist attack or an attack from outside rouge nations Like Pakistan Etc. Wat if they attack the Nuclear plant. Japan, US, Europe and Russia Doesn't have any close encounters with neighbouring Nations. We are Situated in a potentially dangerous Geographical zone. Imagine when the plant was hit while in operation, none of the so called Safety measures help us, inturn will result in wipeout of entire Tamilnadu.Think wisely when setting a plant at a place which can be easily targetted.

from:
Kalyan

Posted on: Mar 15, 2012 at 17:40 IST

There have been many accidents at 20 plants in India, but these have been hidden by the industry because of long term opposition by the public to dangerous nuclear power. The secrecy clause allows all kinds of mishaps to occur and besides all 20 plants are small 150MW to 450MW plants. Whether they actually give any electricity one wonders as the first nuclear plant ate up more electricity than they gave back! Since these small polluting water guzzlers don't make economic sense, the country rushed into the 1000MW range when Fukushima happened and the whole world suddenly woke up to this lying industry on safety,which gobbles people's funds and leaves them penniless.TEPCO IS BANKRUPT and the investors lost their money.U.S.France,U.K. and Japan are all IN DEBT as they relied heavily on nuclear. Let's not become penniless like India was when British deprived it of it's wealth and choose the new innovations in solar,wind,tidal,hydro and nano. Let's not make the mistakes the West made!

from:
angela alvares

Posted on: Mar 15, 2012 at 13:06 IST

Surprising to note that somehow all the concerns related to the safety of nuclear power plant are centered around the KKNPP while conveniently forgetting that there are 20 such NPPs currently running all over India. The fact that NPCIL has clocked 350 years (cumulative) of safe nuclear plant operations should settle many doubts if not all. Some of the questions that need no answer are:
Why there aren't such protests in other nuclear plants? Do locals/protestors there think that they are safe?
Is it a storm in a tea cup which will wane down with time? Is it an attempt to hog popular support or limelight by activists and others? Is a fully built, operation ready national infrastructure a soft target to quick attention?
My interactions with the so called "lay man" have revealed that people want to believe that they are safe and move on with life but for the 'Doubting Thomas's' of the day. High time we handle them appropriately.

from:
Rajesh Acharya

Posted on: Mar 14, 2012 at 11:31 IST

This is a global problem , protests are happening allover the world , natural disasters cannot be predicted accurately . and pls dont compare it with vehicle accidents and plane crashes , the radiation danger will prevail for atleast 250 years in case of an accident , even without an accident .. all nuclear plants leak radiation all the time , its a fact and people near kalpakkam and uranium mines in australia are proven to have cancer because of this factor . all nuclear plants in india combine to give only 3% of our total electricity production , so its obvious that nuclear plants are built for nuclear weapons and not for electricity . there is no evacuation plan and no evacuation training given for people within the 30kms radius , the nuclear liability deal says the russian company wont fund in case of an accident , with all these questions on hold .. this plant wont be opened . the cost of solar energy production is reducing step by step and its the future . Say NO to nukes .

from:
K.Mathikumar

Posted on: Mar 13, 2012 at 21:41 IST

An issue which is perhaps the most worrisome to people in the area has nothing to do with technology, which in any case most lay citizens cannot evaluate themselves. The problem something they know and experience every day – corruption which operates at every level. There is the acute lack of trust in the government and the political process. There is an underlying fear that the superior safety features on paper may not actually get implemented on the ground. They feel, there is no guarantee that some corrupt inspectors won’t pass substandard concrete, steel, welding and undermine the design safety for a hefty kickback deposited in a Swiss Bank. The Central Government – perhaps a Group Of Ministers – must spell out what steps (e.g. mandate independent inspecting authority operating under supreme court justices) it has to ensure this will not happen, as it did in the 2-G spectrum case. This will remove some reservations on the part of the protestors.

from:
MUKUNDAGIRI SADAGOPAN

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 22:49 IST

Some have suggested that we take in stride the hazards nuclear power just as we have always done auto accidents, coal mine disasters, birds dying from wind power etc. Hazards of nuclear power is a myriad times more serious and widespread to the extent that an accident has the potential to destroy thousands of acres or even square miles killing or critically injuring all life –plants, animals and people. The damage can last as long as the half-life of the nuclear fissionable material (700 million years for Uranium 235). One does not need a Ph. D. to understand this – and the villagers who protest – they do. The onus of proving that a specific design of the nuclear power plant will not cause such a catastrophic accident lies with the nuclear scientists, technologists and economists as well. Calling them “brainless” only makes the protesters more resolute in their stand against nuclear power.

from:
MUKUNDAGIRI SADAGOPAN

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 22:23 IST

@ Raj Kumar: Nuclear Plants are run by centre and not by any state. Likewise centre should also take over the control of rivers/dams.

from:
Venki

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 19:40 IST

I am sure they (Udhyakumar & Co) are not satisfied for this KKNP technical details eventhough GOD told. Their motivation is to postponed keep on / try to close this KKNP for this only they are getting support from outside country. If they stoped they won't get MONEY then how they will survive and how will get publicity(media coverage). But I am sure Udhyakumar will face problem after TN by election... Till the time he can enjoy without understanding of people& industry daily facing powercut....

from:
Sankar

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 18:27 IST

Sri Lankan legends indicate that there was a massive Tsunami in 2nd century BC, and that Kelaniya, a town 45kms from the sea remained just 6kms from the sea as a result of the Tsunami. The 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka was 12m high at some points. Given these, is it very prudent to go ahead with Kudankulam?

from:
James Gurung

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 16:58 IST

Sri Lankan legends indicate that there was a massive Tsunami in 2nd century BC, and that Kelaniya, a town 45kms from the sea remained just 6kms from the sea as a result of the Tsunami. The 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka was 12m high at some points. Given these, is it not madness to go ahead with Kudankulam?

from:
James Gurung

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 16:55 IST

@ Raj Kumar: Very fair question. Choose a site in Kerala, we can dismantle and ship the entire plant to Kerala. Have full control in your area. As we cannot move a water collecting area we can annex that to TN. Why worry?

from:
SS

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 15:40 IST

One of the Readers has used the word arrogance of the author. It is highly deplorable. When technical details are presented, where does the question of arrogance comes into picture ?

It would have been appropriate if the reader has raised the following questions to the authorities :

1. How many buildings and dams in India are built to withstand the Rictor scale 8.9 Earthquake if it happens closer home ?

2. How many people will survive in the east coast of India, if a tsunami of height 9 m strikes ?

3. What happens to the fertilizer industries / refineries if an aircraft falls near / on a Chlorine / Ammonia storage facility which are situated close to the cities or within the cities, like in Mumbai, Chennai ?

4. What the authorities are doing when about 500 people die in coal mine accidents every year ?

5. When only Rs.3.39 is paid per Unit for Wind Mills, why Rs.15.40 is guaranteed for solar ?

6. When China is building 20 reactors why we are not building as many ?

from:
K.Periasamy

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 11:07 IST

Well, many in the public question why such technicalities are not given earlier.

It is not the fault of the Engineers/Officials. It is the fault of the media, and partly public as well.

All details were very much given to the media long back. Reporters were invited to Kudankulam and the details were explained on several occasions. Recently, after the issue became hot, the reporters were taken into the reactor and these technical aspects were explained. But they did not publish and they did not explain what they themselves saw.

Why ? The reason is simple. The media thinks that the general public will not be interested in even this minimum technical detail. They think people are interested only in cinema and cricket !

This is not applicable for Kudankulam alone. Be it thermal power plant, chemical plant, dam, canal, in any large project, the authorities concerned call the media and give the details.

But the media gives least importance, till something becomes hot for public !

from:
K.Periasamy

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 10:49 IST

Kasinath Balaji has chosen Fukushima anniversary date to articulate his plant is safe. The Japan nuclear crisis forced 80,000 people live as destitute. Multiple investigations into the Fukushima nuclear crisis points to ‘the culture that takes safety very light’ as reason for the events that lead to the nuclear crisis. Openness and accountability to general public are precursor to safety culture. Indian nuclear industry lacks these attributes. In the past 25 years, neither AEC nor NPCIL conducted a public meeting about KNPP with local people. Safety features doesn’t make the risk 0. It is shame that Kasinath Balaji fails to explain the dependency on desalination plants for freshwater to cool the reactor and the wave height required to knockout the 4 diesel generators. The important lesson of Fukushima nuclear crisis is ‘simultaneous failure of multiple safety features’. In general, failure to think the unimaginable and it is present in Indian nuclear industry. We cannot trust them.

from:
Michael Titus

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 09:20 IST

The information presented here does not give the readers much confidence in the safety of this plant. There is no discussion of the effect of risk estimation when more than one failure occurs - e.g. a tsunami coupled with other equipment/human failure. While a combination of failures may occur in other plants, the resultant effect is unlikely to spew radioactive materials into the atmosphere. The problem with nuclear plants is that they socialize the benefits of the energy they generate within a large group while localizing the risks to the population living around the plant.

from:
Swathi

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 04:16 IST

This was a wonderful article, very helpful. I was aware of the AP1000 design aspects, and it appears the Russian Gen 3 version is an excellent equivalent. As for the concerns over the safety of the plant and the waste, I would point out a few sad facts. Everyone knows the dangers of oil and coal, but the so-called green technologies are a nightmare, too. Solar panels have a 20--25 lifespan then they become non-biodegradable e-waste as bad as old CRT PC monitors. Making them produces silicon tetrachloride which in China they've been dumping in water used for farming. I lived in California for 40 years, and the wind turbines have killed so many birds you can't count them. Tehy are idle half the time due to no wind. My cat was miserable about lack of birds. To use solar or wind at home-level you need toxic batteries to store power for night use. Hydro power killed salmon in the western US rivers until they installed water chillers and fish ladders. There is NO free clean energy.

from:
Ed Hayden

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 02:40 IST

Can one die when they are walking on the street? Can one meet with an accident while driving, can a plane malfunction or crash? Can a boat sink? Could there be food poisoning?Why then do all these?

Nuclear power has been around a long time and concerns of anti nuclear activists and public has made it far safer than ever before.

How many of those opposing nuclear and vouching for solar, wind etc have themselves attempted to do anything about it? If they did so they are welcome to share their experiences.

Some have called for transparency in nuclear matters-sure Osama bin laden asked for that too when he was alive!

from:
aryap

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 00:58 IST

Can Kerala get partial control of kudankulam and permanent electricity supply from there like what TN is getting from Mullaperiyar in Kerala? Or, is that an unfair question.

from:
Raj Kumar

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 00:21 IST

Lets educate the protester and avoid further delay. It is our paid Tax that has shaped into this wounderful Power Plant. Lets utlise it.

from:
Amarnath

Posted on: Mar 12, 2012 at 00:03 IST

Its easy to draw out diagrams and call it safe. When we have other safe alternatives, why go for nuclear power? Nuclear power is more expensive than other forms of power - please do the accounting right.

from:
Githin Alapatt

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 23:43 IST

Thanks for a good article providing knowledge on the highly speculated Nuclear plant.These scientific terms may not be understandable to the common people in and around the area,it is the duty of the TV media and local medias to come forward and show them the real picture and in the real sense of it,which of course needs an initiative from the government.

from:
Balaji

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 23:30 IST

Considering the fact we currently don't have any other power generation model which can meet our energy demands, which is reliable, and low operating costs, we need to bring in Nuclear power plants. Even though it has its own perils we need to factor in growing energy demands of our country. It will be a wise for the Government to direct focus on R&D for envisioning methods to generate safe power, to limit loss in transmission and to safely dispose the waste radio-active material. Government should work out with a finite timeline for achieving the above mentioned goals. We have to take this option as we don't have any other better option as of now.

from:
Ravindhran R

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 23:09 IST

What about the nuclear waste that would be generated. Nobel laurette Dr. Hans Peter Durr has said that the nuclear waste can be used only to make bombs. Even hiding the waste under the sea wom't help as its half life is several hundred years. Safety has various dimensions. We are not worried about the Structure but how the waste would be handled.

from:
Regin Thangaraj

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 22:49 IST

As a native of this area and as one who has family here - I have vested interest in this project on safety and the benefits. After reading this article I am convinced that the Govt and officials have taken into consideration all aspects .
The great height of the tsunami at Fukushima was also formed by the shape of the narrow bay which channeled the water higher. Also Fukushima and for that mater the whole of Japan is closer to a more active fault line than Kudankulam.
Every form of energy has its pitfalls/cost and risk. India needs all forms of energy it can harness . Nuclear is one of them and should not be shunted off. Let not few vocal protestors, hold off the silent majority .

from:
Venkatesh

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 22:47 IST

It 's no doubt that if the site direstor of KKNP and his assistant are made to write about it, they would do a good job. Its good to see many ppl posting good comments on it.

from:
Sathish

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 22:20 IST

To those suggesting solar vs. nuclear, surely they do understand that it's really, solar, hydel, nuclear, thermal, bio-mass, etc. vs. lack of power? For a country / state starved of power, shouldn't we be doing everything we can to lap up all forms of electricity generation? Of course safety is non-negotiable, but the subtlety of the above argument is being missed in most of the discourse.

from:
scifilvr

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 21:45 IST

@Paavendhan: even if India covers the entire state of Rajasthan with solar power cells it would hardly put a dent on the vast energy needs of a developing country like India. Before advocating solely solar or wind power sources one would need to think through what amount of land for solar/wind plants needed to support the energy needs of 1.2 billion population, what is the land availability for such plants (how much land needed to produce equivalent amount solar power as Kudankulam nuclear power plant), what is the feasibility of continuing to use fossil fuels such as coal (India had to resort to importing due to unavailability) and gas (little local availability and LNG is too pricy for India), what are the environmental consequences of coal power plants. Nothing is risk free in life, one needs to take a calculated risk with a cost-benefit analysis to survive in life. Else we stop taking train ride or build chemical plants due to incidents of rail accident or Bhopal disaster.

from:
Jitendra Dutta

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 20:50 IST

@Paavendhan: Germany produces much of electricity from coal and gas (available from Russia next door), however as the global warming issue gains more importance lets see how Germany addresses those solely with solar or wind power. In California the effort to build a solar power plant in Mojave desert is facing environmental opposition as it destroys desert tortoise habitats. In spite of having vast fossil fuel sources such as gas and coal the US has just approved first nuclear power plant after a gap of 32 years, and this is not because of strong nuclear power lobby rather in spite of strong fossil fuel lobby because Obama admin is concerned about global warming. India surely needs renewable power sources such as solar and wind but the reality is that cannot be the replacement for other sources such as coal and yes nuclear power. At the rate India is building coal plants pollution will be unbearable in future, China is finding that out & hence they are expanding nuclear plants greatly.

from:
Jitendra Dutta

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 20:35 IST

@Paavendhan: Germany has decided to stop all nuclear power plants by 2018 or so and it is possible for that decision to be reversed after the anti-nuclear hysteria in the aftermath of Fukushima dies down, the reality of global warming and the infeasibility of supplementing nuclear power with renewable power dawns on the country. Germany buys much of its electricity from eastern Europe where part of that is produced through nuclear plant and Germany has no prohibition against that (in other words transfer the risk to another country because Germany can afford to pay). Solar power is dependent on weather and day-night cycle and requires vast amount of open land which makes it difficult for a densely populated country like India with enormous needs for energy to plan on solar power to replace coal or nuclear power capacity.

from:
Jitendra Dutta

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 20:24 IST

Before making a furore about the safety of the nuclear power plants and stalling its progress, think about the huge investments already made in this sector. After putting in all the costs, you do not want the benefits that nuclear power is meant to bring to an energy constrained country. India is in transition and wants nuclear power to propel economic growth and meet the energy demand of its people and industries.Why shoul we be dependent on oil imports alone? Once the benefits exceeds the cost then we can think of deregulating the sector.

Untill then any attempts to stall these plants would hinder economic growth and nation building.

from:
Thomas Varghese

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 18:50 IST

The write up by the learned authors rightly throw up “enough light” on the safety features of Kudankulam reactor and should help to remove the dark clouds hovering over the plant’s future.

The unwarranted suspension of the works at Kudankulam has given an opportunity to Indian nuclear establishment to convert the “present disadvantage” to “future advantage” by championing the Nuclear cause, after all, this is indeed the need of the hour. India afterall needs nuclear power in every sense in her quest towards path of prosperity.

Some of the readers above have also raised a doubt on possibility of earthquake near Kudankulam. Apart from what is said above, as a keen follower of this issue , I would like to clear the air by stating the facts, while Japan faced as many as 70 nos. of earthquakes of more than 6.5 magnitude, fortunately for us, Southern India never faced such situation by god’s grace.

you are wrong Germany still imports nuclear power from its neighbors Czech-republic and France some nuclear plants just near its border,its just to please anti-nuclear lobby.you can't get peak power stability from solar..with future thorium based fast breeder reactor we can't stop now..having one of the largest thorium reserves we can power our country for 300 years...so stop being paranoid..you get more radiation from air-travel and medical scans like x-rays and CT-scan than nuclear plant gives near its surrounding..so lets allow progress

from:
amogavarsha

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 18:12 IST

in addition to the comments mentioned below.....why all this protest coming up now after govt spending 1500 crores? why didnt people in those area reacting then?? nuclear plants are not build in a day i guess. interesting...

from:
krelrklr

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 18:04 IST

When our country could not retrieve the money from DOW chemical hazard? When there is no single insurance company against nuclear disaster? When our govt is keeping a blind eye towards Indian fisherman being killed? I really feel how the so called learned and educated could not understand the land reality in India? If a disaster happens in A nuclear facility it will have an impact for generation its not like a train or flight mishap? Developed countries like Germany have fixed dates for the complete close out of there nuclear facility ? What are we going to learn from these developed countries?

from:
kousikan

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 18:02 IST

Sir, I beg Mr.Rajeev and MR. Paavendhan or others who agree with their line of arguement just explain " better ways to meet the energy needs of our country" and what is the cost and time factors in producing the solar energy with 7.8 sunlight hours. Where is the finance for these undertakings? Will they explain how the demand increas and how the supply system works? I dont know the pros and cons of the KKNP. I dont know the bolts and nuts of the other safe and cheap systems. As a layman I humbly request them to explain in detail.

from:
Devadas Salem.

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 16:05 IST

Thank you for the first technically-positioned piece in the entire debate. Of course there cannot be any system which is 100% safe but then why do people bother flying, or even driving? The question for us Indians is whether we wish to remain in the dark, quite literally. There are many reasons why solar energy is not viable at this point in time. The first is that it is very expensive. Another is that it is difficult to generate in the range of MWs using solar cells. Think of the sheer acreage required for this, even theoretically. People who advocate solar energy fail to understand a few facts. Solar cells require rare materials with which to dye the semiconductor substrates. These materials, in the process of mining for them, could also cause significant environmental degradation. Nuclear energy is not ideal, but it provides one avenue which we cannot afford to ignore if we wish to achieve our development goals and free our people, to some extent, from the clutches of poverty.

from:
Samir Mody

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 15:23 IST

These "protestors" have other agenda and motives for protesting against the plant. So, no amount of explanations, safeguards and safety features are going to convince these NGOs. What is needed is a little less tolerance to their nonsense activities and more law and order enforcement. If these protestors want to discuss the safety issue ( which they don't want anyway ), then let them bring their experts from abroad and discuss the issue in the open. If they cannot do that, then too bad, they have to face the law and consequences of their illegal actions. - After all one can wake up a sleeping man, but one cannot wake up a man who pretends to sleep.

from:
Anand

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 13:51 IST

Snobs, some here and many out there believe that anti Kudankulam supporters don’t have brains. While authorities on nuclear energy like Dr. Duerr are anti-nuclear, minnows of this country who can’t build a nuclear plant / nuclear submarine indigenously are busy browbeating anti-nuclear protestors. One has to appreciate the authors’ arrogance despite their naivety. They conveniently ignore the fact that 2004 tsunami’s epicenter was some 2800 km away from Indian shore. Can the authors assure that the next tsunami’s epicenter won’t be closer home? While Nobel laureates desist it’s convulsing to see nuclear engineers (not scientists) of this country acting like God. If Germany with 4.8 sunlight hours per day can junk nuclear energy and push for solar energy why India with 7.8 sunlight hours should drag its feet.

from:
Paavendhan

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 11:31 IST

Well, if the Kudankulam reactors are really that safe, why is it that there is not a single insurance company in the whole world that is willing to cover the liability from an accident at that plant. Why is it that the Nuclear establishment seems to be giving grimaced and constipated responses to genuine public concerns on the constant low-
level radiation that the plant workers and neighboring villagers will have to constantly live with. Why is it that the nuclear organizations are shrouded in such secrecy? It is sad that the govt is painting a distorted picture that India cannot be a developed nation without nuclear power when in fact the development of a nation has absolutely nothing to do with using nuclear power to meet the energy needs. It is time the govt wakes up to the reality of the tremendously high costs and risks associated with nuclear energy. There are better ways to meet the energy needs of our country - if only we care to look.

from:
Rajeev

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 11:10 IST

While this much delayed article is much appreciated, and shows a clear picture that should allay a lot of doubts, the "Concept of defense-in-depth graphic", available for download here, is a joke. It looks like a drawing from a sixth standard science book and doesn't deal with anything in-depth. Who made this silly graphic and why has The Hindu published it here? Where are the heat exchangers, and how is the heat from the core brought out to generate electricity? Not that any of this is necessary to augment the central theme of this article, which is indeed in-depth to some extent, but this particular graphic serves to undermine most of it.

from:
B S Kumar

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 11:03 IST

Govt. of India should immediately release the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) from the clutches of Department of Atomic Energy and make it a purely an independent body with complete and strong powers. Secondly, Govt. of India should relase the safety report submitted by AERB sixtenn years back.

from:
vc sekar

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 11:00 IST

Being an Engineer myself and into safety systems, the above details of safety in place at the KKNPP is a delight to observe and encompasses high level of safety with redundancy. If this could be translated into Tamil or simplfied or graphically presented to the people who protest , it would be of immense value. And to the learned people who head the protest, if they can not understand the safety systems already in place,then the only option for all of us would be to go back live in stone age as every power generation or any technology for that matter has inherent risk and we can only mitigate risk and not completely wipe it away. If government does not take any action to start the plant, they might as well provide all the citizens with free candles and chimneys and have a system to take away all our electronics.

from:
Shafi

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 10:20 IST

I read with interest regarding the safety aspects of Kudankulam nuclear power plant. In my view, most of the plants in India are built very safely on the paper but the safety aspects take a back seat during the course of plant operations. Also the plant safety is not upgraded with technology and time. There is no rigorous safety regime in most of plants. This is my experience after working in a leading public sector in India. When Japanese could conveniently forget the safety procedures, I am sure Indians also will when the comfort dawns. With the red tape and shortage of funds for maintenance and safety I can easily guess that safety will be compromised. With no independent unbiased agency monitoring I think nuclear power plants will be crisis on the hand in the future. Another issue is why the suppliers of nuclear power plants are unable to sell them to any developing world ? Japan has second thoughts on the nuclear power as well as many European countries.

from:
Vishnu

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 09:40 IST

Why this report comes after an inordinate delay? Why can't they make this public much much earlier to allay the fears of people. Don't they know that all these protests are happening related to safety issues. The height of tsunami that hit Fukushima Nuke Plant was at 14 - 15m whereas the present plant design consideration is 5.44m which is still less than 5.7m a factor that was considered in Fukushima's design. Though the chances of tsunami of 14-15m is very remote in our case, we cannot rule out this factor as in KNPP the cooling pump is just at 7.65m high from MSL and a tsunami of 8m could easily damage the pump house.

from:
Jaiganesh

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 09:19 IST

Well, Protesters who are not being paid by anyone and are protesting because of the fears of another Fukushima, should understand that Kudunakulam is not a Fukushima. Anyone with little brain and an internet connection can search on google and look it on google maps that Fukushima is far more dense and far more populated in 30 KM radius (Contamination zone declared by Japan)and infact there is hardly any population at Kudunakulam within that zone. Similarly Fukushima nuclear reactor's structure is a rectangle which can "break" easily compared to semi-sphere dome shape at KKNR. Therefore People please understand and please use your brains as why only non American nuke power plants are being opposed and why Church is taking so much interest in these issues despite the fact that church has no expertise on these matters and having said that I'm not blaming entire community or any organisation but just some vested interests within those groups.

from:
Bijen Roy

Posted on: Mar 11, 2012 at 08:48 IST

Thank you for a great article.Unfortunately,in our country its not the science or technology matters and somehow a couple of people know better than entire science world and also more than our former president Kalam.